Last updated on 23 November 2020

Key findings

Between 01 July 2016 and 31 December 2019 (3.5 years):

• 39,738 injury-related ED presentation episodes in QISU collecting hospitals for those 15-24 years of age, representing around 12% of the total ED injury presentations statewide in the same age group.
• Injury presentations were highest amongst those 15 years of age when compared to other ages within the 15 – 24 years of age group.
• Similar to findings in hospitalisation data, males accounted for most injury presentations (60%).
• Most injury presentations were unintentional (80%).
• Self-harm accounted for 7%, with twice as many females presenting to ED for this reason as males.
• The percentage of assault-related presentations increased with age in both sexes.
• Saturday and Sunday were peak days for injury presentations; however, this varied amongst the self-harm-related presentations which peaked on Sunday and Monday.
• Approximately 28% of all injury presentations were related to the ‘struck by or collision with object’ mechanism.
• More than a quarter of all injury presentations were dislocations and ‘sprains or strains’ (27%), most commonly of the lower limbs.
• Fracture is the most common nature of injury associated with admission following ED treatment accounting for 19% of all injury-related admissions in QISU data.
• Within the transport-related injury categories, presentations for pedal cycle-related injuries were more frequent in the 15-19 age group compared to the 20-24 age group, while injuries relating to motor vehicle and motorcycle incidents were similar for both groups.

Key figures

Top 5 Injury Types with Body Region

Triage Category & Mode of separation

Data scope and definitions

This overview was produced by the Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit, in consultation with the Jamieson Trauma Institute.

Data Source

The Queensland Injury Surveillance Unit (QISU) collects injury data from emergency departments (ED) at participating hospitals across Queensland. The data is collected in the following Hospital and Health Service areas: Darling Downs HHS, Cairns and Hinterland HHS, Central QLD HHS, Children’s Health QLD HHS, Mackay HHS, Metro North HHS, North West HHS and Wide Bay HHS.

QISU data is coded for Injury Surveillance using the National Data Standards for Injury Surveillance (NDS-IS v.2c). Approximately 43% of the data presented were either manually coded by triage nurses at each participating hospital (17%) or by QISU coders (26%). The remaining data were coded using a machine learning classifier. The prediction summary of the classifier is presented in Appendix 1.

Data Scope

• Injury Presentations to QISU EDs with arrival date between 01 July 2016 & 31 December 2019
• Age 15-24 years
• Activities when injured are coded manually by QISU coders. As most activity data is still incomplete for the period of study, this component was not included in this report.

Appendix 1

Approximately 43% of the data presented were either manually coded by triage nurses at each participating hospital (17%) or by QISU coders (26%). The remaining data were coded using a machine learning classifier. The prediction summary of the classifier is presented below.

Machine Classifier Prediction Summary